Subversion trial hearing postponed after disturbances in court

KBR69N, Jayapura, 17 February 2012The hearing of a
trial in Papua had to be postponed because of disturbances that broke
out in court. The hearing was being held in order to hear some of the
17 witnesses.

The disturbances began as the chairman of the panel of judges was
reading out the court regulations during the trial. When the five
defendants rejected this, a heated argument broke out in which many of
those attending the hearing also became involved.

Initially, the judge announced that the hearing would be closed for
ten minutes but he was eventually forced to close the hearing after
announcing that it had been the intention to hear the testimony of some
of the witnesses.

‘The events which occurred had not been predicted. Sometimes
predictions about the weather turn out to be wrong. But we hope that
conditions in future will be more conducive so that the trail can
proceed peacefully and can go ahead in accordance with the timing as
planned,’ said the judge.

The five defendants who face the charge of makar – subversion – had
previously announced the establishment of the Federal Republic of West
Papua. The five men are Forlorus Yaboisembut, Dominikus Serabut, Edison
Waromi, August Kraar and Selfius Bobii. They face the maximum sentence
of twenty years.